The chicken whose life I saved

Remember her?


This chick was on the fast track to the dumpster from the back of my aunt’s shop. I didn’t have any plans when I told Jo that I thought I might be able to make her presentable. And, to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about it myself :) The next night, on my way home, inspiration struck.

She got a good plucking and scrubbing with soap and a brush. Then, came the primer. I used this on our kitchen tile backsplash and have no complaints. I love it because of this:

That whole “preps glossy surfaces” part had me at hello. I can paint anything now!

I put three light coats of primer on her and then got out my tan and brown craft paint. I dry brushed tan and then brown and then went over it all with a slightly damp brush to mix it all up a little more.
 
I still needed to find a winter home for these hen and chicks that I got from my mom. They are chicks from plants that my mom got from her grandma. My great grandma loved chicken things, so it’s just perfect to use this.

The pot they were in doesn’t completely fit down inside the bird. I’m glad it didn’t though because it would sit TOO low then. So, I just fixed the gap with some twine.
And… voila!
  
When I told Dustin how I planned to paint it he said '”It’ll look just like Foghorn Leghorn” (named so because she was the only white chicken we got in Round #1 and our neighbor told us we HAD to name one Foghorn Leghorn.

Coincidentally, she’s the first, and only, to lay any eggs.
This isn’t the best pic of her, but it’s dark and it’s all I have :) You can see some of the browns on her back by his thumb though.
*Dustin also told me to crop him out of this picture… so, ignore the man behind the bird!
Now, my hen and chicks have a hen to take care of them. And, it’s white and fits into the kitchen just right!

**And, if anyone needs some red baby's breath... gimme a call :)

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

The ladies have been busy!

Some have been busy being unladylike and crowing...

 (at least s/he was given the neutral name of Chief... we should have realized s/he was a boy by how in charge s/he acted, hence, the name) :)

Some have been snagged by the neighbor's boxer only to reappear in the yard, tailfeatherless one week and one day later...

(Dreamy is in the middle. She was taken by the boxer and the owners told us that she was alive and ran into the woods.... they failed to see the importance in figuring out where the chickens were coming from, so we didn't know until days later. We assumed she was a goner... then, one day, she came out of the woods from her adventure being a wild chicken :)) 

Most have just been panting and stretching out in this 115 degree weather we have...

 She might be a HE too....

But someone.... someone has been busy...

This is egg #2! One yesterday and one today!

Now, if only one of them would lay golden eggs... :) oh wait... wasn't that a goose?

*Since Dreamy's big adventure, the boxer went missing. One of our neighbors told the owners when they came looking for him that they'd be lucky if we hadn't shot him (gulp). LUCKILY, he showed back up at home. We've seen him in their yard since then, but not running free in ours :). We were nervous he wouldn't come home and they'd think we really had done something to him. We try to be peaceful, drama free neighbors :) Hopefully they pay better attention to him since he ran away for a while. 

The girls and chicken fears

Earlier this week, the ladies got some "friends". Although, they don't like their "friends" and peck them when they are together.

Why is it that adult animals don't like baby animals? Margot still despises Sophie (I'd hate her too if I were Margot though) and the ladies aren't big fans of the new 11 girls. (yea, that's right...we now have 18 total chickens) This winter, we're going to turn into those people who stop by and bring a dozen (or 18) eggs with us every time.. and bring all sorts of weird egg dishes to pitch ins. Get ready, you've been forewarned.

These girls are pretty little and are only about 4-6 weeks old. We're happy with all the different colors. We like some diversity in our chicken farming :).

I'm still terrified of them all though :) I blame my childhood. 

 and a certain loudmouth little chick.... and her mother.

We always had chickens. I have always loved little animals. One day, I picked up a baby chick from a nest only to look up to find momma bird coming at me. I took off; baby bird in hand. This made the chick cheep louder for help which made momma bird run at me harder... which made me run harder. I didn't make it far and threw down the chick in my effort to escape. I also have a memory of Mom standing on the porch laughing while this was happening (thanks for the rescue, Mom!).To this day, I'm a bit weary of birds, their curious stare, and their pointy little beaks. Dustin assures me it doesn't hurt to be pecked, but he's been pecked many times already and we're just starting this whole 18 chicken farm business :)

The ladies all have names and a few of the girls do now too. Maybe one day soon I'll bore you with cameos of all 18 with their names :). Between that and all the weirdo egg dishes I'm gonna have to research and make,  I may lose all my readers and wonder why we're home alone with our deviled eggs, egg salad, and egg drop soup on New Year's Eve this year! 

(Margot is scared of the ladies, but licked her lips when she saw the girls... uh oh :))

Coffee table redo and crisis (narrowly) averted

Good news first:

This pretty lady just got a new look. 

I've been wanting to change up the coffee table recently and after nine days of toddler invasion, I had my excuse. (NO, Daniel, I didn't redo it just because of the Hadster :) he just gave me an excuse)

I still like the all black look, but this piece needed some touch up. It was painted 4 years ago and was showing the wear and tear that a well used coffee table gets. 

I'm an off and on fan of the distressed look. This distress was au naturale though... and it wasn't pretty.

I used the sample jar of Gobi Desert Behr paint that I got from the Shop and Hop that I did a few months ago. I skipped painting the top for now because I wanted to see what the black looked like.

Yeah, I painted in my living room.. don't judge... it gets worse further down :)

I really liked it like this but I still wanted to try out the "glazed" look. I didn't have any glaze but I did have wood stain. I have seen Gail at My Repurposed Life do this once. (If you've not seen Gail's blog, you are MISSING OUT!) 

So, I broke out the stain, got a rag and an old paintbrush and started applying the stain in small sections and wiping it off. 

Yes, I am still sitting in my carpeted living room for this... (take back your gasp! The carpet in here is horrible and we plan to rip it up and lay flooring that we salvaged from Dustin's great grandparents--- one of these days...)

So, what do you think? I'm happy with it. Once I got it done, I had Dustin help me flip it over. Then, I went over some places and "dry brushed" what stain was left in the brush in areas where I thought it needed to be darker. 

Then, in a moment of "I didn't think this through well..." I emailed Gail about it setting up. Stain is supposed to soak into wood. I was nervous about it being tacky for life. But, she said that it should cure and suggested waiting until then if I want to spray poly it for some added protection.

I promise, I will spray poly outside. :)

I thought about slightly distressing it, but I think I'll wait until it starts getting beat up on its own. 

I am going to paint the top black again. It needs another coat again for some touch ups. 

What do you think? Any suggestions? 

And in not so good news....

There really was some chicken drama this afternoon. Dustin went out to check on them around 6 to only find one of 8 birds. There were feathers everywhere. After a search, 5 were found hiding out in the woods. While he was out on a search and out talking to neighbors, another showed up, missing all her tail feathers and soaking wet. She's ok, but has some really raw places on her. One is still missing. The culprit is a male boxer who lives a few houses away through the woods. He was near the yard when Dustin was out there. When he tried to talk to the owners, the dog wouldn't let him near the yard. So.... it looks like the ladies aren't going to be allowed to run free.. in our OWN yard during the day anymore. I don't mind when dogs aren't tied or confined as long as they are easy going and just want to eat our scraps! This dog has been here a few times and just seems mean. (and I'm not a boxer hater.. I adore the two I know) But, I am not a fan of mean dogs-- who is?  He's caused some other trouble in the neighborhood as well. Luckily, only one of the ladies is missing. We hadn't seen him in our yard for a month or so, so we thought he was fenced in finally. Wrong-o. The hurt one is spending the night in Ellie's dog cage in the garage. He's been putting antibiotic on her. We're keeping her away from the rest for a while because chickens are mean little things and will peck an injured one to death. Hopefully, she can join the rest of them soon.

Never a dull moment!

Chicken Drama

The ladies have had an eventful evening.... well, they think so anyway...

No, the drama did not result in the black one on the left losing a leg.. although it looks like she's missing one here. The red one on the right is the brave one. (or as Dustin says "she's either the bravest, or the dumbest"). See the concern in her posture? The craning of the neck so she can see it all unfold. The slightly open beak cheeping in concern.

Concern... and jealousy over the big white one's adventure here (we need to get these ladies some names....)

The big white one decided to roost 20 feet or so up in a tree and the smaller ones were all concerned and jealous. Dustin put the rest of them up just as we heard a fox making noises in the woods not all too far away. (That's another post altogether about why we know what a fox sounds like... that was an interesting week of "what the heck was that?!?!?!" as we tried to fall asleep every night)

After some tree shaking and broom using, she came down and panic ensued a little more. Her little buddies were all gone and she was upset... and was being cornered by Dustin to be put up since she wasn't getting it on her own.

Drama drama

Proud papa with his wayward lady

Crises averted. And, as Dustin said on the way to the house... just another evening on the farm. 

Ha, yeah, we both got a little cluckle chuckle over that too.

ps~ I am my mother's child.. it was only a matter of time before the corny jokes found there way here... :) I'd apologize.. but I don't think it would be sincere :)

The ladies have arrived

Earlier this week, Dustin finally found some chickens. He refers to them as "the ladies". 

"I need to go check on the ladies..."

"I need to get the ladies their lunch..."

Luckily, I'm not the jealous type :)

The ladies aren't overly photogenic creatures. They are, however, scratching and pecking fools. He's been letting them out during the day and they attack the leaves like they mean business!

This little lady REALLY wants to get to know the ladies too. This was next to the coop when we reminded her that "chickens are bad" in a soft spoken voice.

She is such a good little puppy who really is spoiled rather than mistreated like she acts. These are her "I'm in trouble and I'm sorry" ears. We get them any time she thinks she has been bad. We've just recently started leaving her running free in the downstairs when we leave. The first few times we did this, we were met with the "troubled ears". She didn't do anything bad. She thought she was bad because she wasn't in her cage.

The nervous lip licker. 

She really is spoiled... but so are we for having such a good puppy. We know that the chickens are a huge temptation for her, so we make sure she's on her leash when they're free. We don't want to tease her more than they already do just by being here!

The house guests have headed north. Once we get the house de-toddlered I plan on knocking out some projects around here! :)  I have a lengthy list and a month and a half to do them!

Coop completion and a duct cat

Ladies and gentlemen.... we have a completed coop!

Now, we just need the chickens :) It's raining now, but I'll give you the complete inside tour soon :)

We have also started to wallpaper the oven cabinet. One side took way longer than it should have, so we plan to finish the front tonight. (crossed fingers)

AND.. Dustin is finished painting the garage. (We are waiting on less humidity to paint the floor). He's currently in the reorganizing phase. He does this at least 2 times a year anyway :)

So, all our projects not on our project list are about to be completed :) 

(I got ahead of myself the other day... the garage WAS on a list.. but it is on the "When we win the lotto list". It is a much more extensive, lengthy list of things we will never do but still think about. And "painting the garage" wasn't on that list as much as "just build an entirely new garage" was)

In other news:

I'm so glad it is summer- minus the first snake sighting of the year. The view from my office chair: 

And, in Margot news:

She is currently here...

This isn't her first adventure into the duct work. A little over a year ago, she got up there, fell in the wall space and Dustin had to leave work and drive the hour home and cut a hole (or 2) in the wall to get her out. Dustin says that she's kicked out of the house forever. This will be the 5th time he's kicked her out of the house forever....

:)

A week in pics

I didn't mean to take a blogging break! OOPS...Here are some things that have been happening around here..

In chicken house news:

The coop has doors that lock and latch from the inside and windows that do the same.

It also got some partial walls inside that will separate them from the other part of the shed which will house outdoor tools and chicken feed.

Dustin also set the GIGANTIC posts that the chicken wire will be attached to for "runs". There are two sets of these. They are from an old hog barn that our bother in law redid. So, they were free too!

There has also been some cuddling.....

This was a first... even though they perfectly match (minus the fact that Margot only has one eye....)

And, I walked in to capture this one too....

There have also been some great blooms happening...

And, finally... I had planned to end this "week in pics" post with a pic from today, but their printer wasn't working. So..... 

In other news.... 

We are currently 6 weeks and 5 days pregnant. This is pregnancy number 5, so we are holding our breath and crossing everything we can! We had an ultrasound today and everything is looking good so far! That's the reason for my lapse in posts. I've been so sick that I can't hardly get off the couch to even sit at the computer and work, blog, email....  My projects are also at the mercy of my hubby who hates to paint!